Gluten Free Tamale Pie – on the grill

It is not nearly as hot here in the Pacific Northwest as it is where my family is (Chicago & Minnesota). You guys have certainly had the heat wave. We are still wearing our October gear in the mornings. However, yesterday it was 85F. (I know, still not hot comparatively, but come on… that’s a 20 degree jump for us!)

We took full advantage of the day: playground in the morning, walk after lunch, bubbles/sidewalk chalk, building a fort, soccer outside, etc. By the time dinner-cooking-hour rolled around, I was hot. And so was the house. We don’t have air conditioning and the warmest time of day here is late afternoon.

At 3:30PM, the house was almost 80F. The thought of heating up the house further to cook (as the temperature was still rising) was NOT appealing to me at all. I had planned to make a tamale pie with whatever veggies + ground beef that were in the fridge. I knew this meant browning the beef, sauteing veggies and what not on the stove top and then finishing in the oven. Oh. NO. Wasn’t happening.

So I cracked out the cast iron skillet and headed outside to the grill. Beyond making the tamale dough topping, the rest of this was prepared on the grill. I honestly didn’t plan to give a “recipe” today. I totally winged this – but I think some of you might find the idea functional for you HOT house as well.

Forgive the lack of perfect measurements, I didn’t measure anything – so they are all guesstimates.

Nice, huh? What a food blogger am I.

Oh well. Here goes nothing!

You can see my fancy topping here – precooked. Lovely, huh?

Tamale Pie on the Grill

NOTE: Make sure you have enough gas (if using a gas grill) to have your burners on for 30-40 minutes on medium-high (or enough to maintain an internal temperature of 350F +)

Put your rehydrated masa dough into the mixer. Add the chicken broth, baking powder, salt, some granulated garlic and half of your butter pats. Mix thoroughly on low. Increase speed to medium after broth has been well incorporated. Add the remaining pats of butter until well incorporated. Beat on medium. The dough texture should be coming up the sides of your mixer and not dense on the bottom or in a ball. It is not super light – but should be very pliable. If not, add a bit more broth – tablespoon by tablespoon – until your get rid of the ball stage. Set aside.

Bring to a simmer. Taste again. Adjust seasoning to desired. (NOTE: If it is mild now, it will be SUPER mild later – so really taste/adjust now.)

Once you’ve reached your flavor, top with the reserved tamale dough. (I used my fingers to make a flat piece (much like working with play-dough) about 1/3-1/2 inch thick. Cover the pan to the best of your ability. I purposefully leave the edges open to allow me to see/check the base and the topping.

Put your cast iron skillet on the “cool side” but still over some heat. Our grill has 4 burners. I turned the right two burners to high and the far left one to the off position. The second one I had on medium.

GRILL BURNERS
ONE (off) TWO (medium) THREE (high) FOUR (high)
Position pan over burner #2

8.”Bake” with your grill closed until the tamale pie topping is cooked through (about 30 minutes or more, depending on the temperature of your grill/outside). You can check the dough by poking it (I know… but hey – I was only cooking for me). If the center is dry/cakey/tamale like, you are good. If there are any wet/doughy parts, keep it on the grill longer.

3 comments on “Gluten Free Tamale Pie – on the grill”

I never thought to use the grill for something like tamale pie. We practically lived off of our grill when we went through our remodel recently though, so I guess I do have some experience outside of grilled meat. We even fried our eggs and made coffee on it.

Great idea and recipe, Kate! It’s been so hot here in VA that I haven’t even wanted to be on the porch to grill. Seriously! I’ve been staying in the AC in the afternoon and evenings and using my oven in short spurts. I cooked tonight’s dinner while we were sleeping last night, a Sweet and Spicy Three-Bean Chili. It will be even better after being in the fridge and the flavors have melded. Btw, I have masa harina in my pantry, but have never used it. Now might be the time … or maybe when some cooler temps return.